It is more than obvious at this point the Jerry Lawler will not be returning anytime soon, as he shouldn't anyway. He should stay at home and take a break from this brutal schedule and to be honest I think he should end his in-ring career immediately for his health.

But the question is who will replace him at the table?

Jim Ross
Matt Striker
Josh Matthews
The Miz
Joey Styles
etc.

Those are just some names but I am very curious to see what will go on with the commentary table. Leave your thoughts on it please.

I'd love to see the last person that replaced the King when he was fired for a year or so around 2000: Paul Heyman.

Paul puts over talent remarkably and would keep viewers interested particularly in Lesnar and Punk as they are both his guys. That would be the best replacement....meaning we'll probably get Josh Matthews. Nothing against Josh he's just too similar to Cole for my tastes.

The King is a 'colour commentator'. Jim Ross, Joey Styles are 'play by play' just like Michael Cole. Not sure what Josh Matthews is.

Striker is a possiblity, as is Booker T (not sure what his SD GM situation is). I would certainly like The Miz but my vote goes to PAUL HEYMAN. He could really put over Punk in the commentating like Heenan did with Flair.

In all fairness to King he's been phoning it in for years now behind the desk and replacing him won't be that hard (although people don't like change so that'll be the hardest part).

JR's an obvious choice but, a 2 man play-by-play booth? Cole never has a chance in that scenario (so I guess that rules Josh and Joey out too).

Miz is a wrestler so he could make a good stop-gap, but not full-time. Striker's a penis, he's a smug shite who doesn't fill the colour guy role well enough.

I'm hoping they can find someone with the energy level the King used to have a few years ago, and run with that.

Taz doesn't seem to care in TNA, get him back, at least it'd be a colour option.

Fuck it, Heyman's signed a deal with them....why not use him on commentary until you can sort something out, that's my wish

__________________Wrestling is like heroin. You know it's bad for you, it takes away years of your life searching for a fix and people are disgusted with you because of it but, god dammit, it's real to me!

The best choices to replace The King would be either JBL or William Regal. That would mean Cole would have to go back to being unbiased/middle of the road. I think William Regal would be the better choice right now, especially since he's been currently working as the color guy on NXT.

Both are ex wrestlers, both have great experience as comentators, and both pull to the "bad guy" side. Kind of like how Bobby The Brain was back in the day with Gorilla Monsoon.

OFC the easier option is Paul Heyman. And a good option that would be too, but he is more a fight comentator than a wrestling comentator and that just does not fit too well with the PG era (ofc I know the attitude era was not "real" fighting - stop the hate!).

Too damn bad Bobby the Brain isn't in any capacity....
Matt Striker- No way the guy is such a tool and the announce booth only has room for 1 tool...
We could have a revolving door where WWE just has wrestlers who are relevant to the superstars in the ring providing commentary/helping to further their feuds.
Outside of that I believe the best choices are:
JBL- Knows the wrestling scene, and is a great speaker
William Regal- Probably the best choice out of everyone. Very knowledgeable of all wrestling holds but he is also very witty.

How about this one for ya though:

Arn Anderson

Horsemen and the guy is notorious for having cat like reflexes when it comes to wit.

Or....

Jimmy Hart

Another guy who could serve as a temporary as he is also very skilled with speaking and wouldn't fumble around at the announce booth.

__________________
If a man speaks his mind in a forest with no women around... Is he still wrong?

I would love to see Steven Regal - he is astute, intelligent and hilarious but not quite suited to RAW I think. You need someone who is a loud, strong character - Heyman is a very good call indeed. My ultimate short-term fix would be Jessie "The Body" Ventura.

Jerry is 63 years old and probably one of the most athletic 60+ wrestlers I have ever seen, save possibly Jimmy Snuka - who else can throw a drop kick at that age. He has had an incredibly proud career and can still do it - if he retires from the ring now, he will have done so as near to the top as possible, and not many with long careers can say that.

He's looked after himself very well and has been straight-edge all the way through but no-one is superhuman - all the travel, indies and committments from someone who never really has to work again but wants to because he loves this business. But everyone has a stopping point and Jerry needs to take a well earned, maybe permanent rest. Health is Wealth as they say...

__________________Vince McMahon - you are a genius but the WBF, XFL, Icopro, $50 million on Linda McMahon's campaign and WWE films, take a hint and stick to wrestling! (or whatever you call it these days....)